The Offshoring of Video Game Programming

By Sarah Clark
sarah.clark@theanimationschooldirectory.com
Animation School Directory Columnist

Could video game development be the next industry to benefit or suffer from the affects of offshore programming in places like China, India, and Russia?

The Hollywood Reporter recently published an article stating that some video game development companies have already begun to send programming work to India and other low-wage countries with workers who are eager to work at shockingly low rates. Not surprisingly, some in the industry are worried about this trend and how it may hurt the video game industry in America.

Pros and Cons of Offshore Video Game Programming

One of the naysayers is Dustin Clingman, president of Zeigeist Games in Florida. Clingman is concerned that the offshore programming trend will create what he calls an "ambition gap," meaning that eventually programmers in India and other emerging economies will develop enough skills and infrastructure to compete head-to-head against western game developers. In essence, Clingman told the Hollywood Reporter, offshore game programming will just equip overseas programmers with the skills needed to get to that level.

Naturally others in the industry see offshoring as a way to keep costs down and increase the bottom line. By hiring teams of programmers in low-wage countries, game producers can save tens of thousands of dollars on the production of a single game. They see game production going the way animation did in the 1980s, migrating to lower-cost studios overseas. Today, the majority of work on any American animation production is done offshore.

Offshoring at Home?

But those low rates come with a price. The Hollywood Reporter also interviewed Roger Green, CEO of Seacode, who said that companies are experiencing challenges that are commonly associated with offshoring, such as communication problems, cultural differences, and time differences - all of which can affect timely delivery of a project.

Green has come up with a plan to solve that problem. He plans to anchor a ship off the coast of Los Angeles that will serve as a workplace for cheaply-paid programmers from other countries.

While it's still unclear the extent to which offshoring will help or hurt the video game industry, it's likely that the industry will go through some changes in how it does business in order to stay competitive at home and globally.

Sources

• The Hollywood Reporter

About the Author

Sarah Clark is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Virginia.